This is a made up report, confirmed by neither Ukraine’s National Olympic Committee nor by the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Social media users are spreading the news that eight Ukrainian athletes who competed in the Milan Olympics fled and never returned home. The propaganda also claimed that the athletes were facing forced conscription due to earning no medals.
In reality, in February 2026, Ukrainian officials and specialized media reported neither the “disappearance” of athletes nor their “mass failure to return” after the Milan-Cortina d’Ampezzo Games. The 2026 Ukrainian national team consisted of 46 athletes, and the failure of eight of them to return would not have gone unnoticed by journalists or the government.
The Center for Countering Disinformation also refuted this fake news, noting that it was part of a systemic Russian information operation aimed at discrediting Ukrainian athletes and creating the false impression of Ukrainians committing mass exodus due to drafting measures.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian and international media have recorded a surge in fakes and manipulations related to Ukrainian athletes at the 2026 Olympics, including on social media.
The narrative that “without medals they will be sent to the frontlines” has no legal basis or proof of practice: no Ukrainian law links athletic performance to military service, and Olympians undergo a multi-year selection process to represent the country on the international stage. For many of them, war is a personal experience. Some team members have close relatives serving in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, to whom they dedicated their performances.
“We return home with seasoned experience and faith in great victories in the future, which will certainly be achieved under the blue and yellow flag. We thank the Defense Forces of Ukraine for the opportunity to represent our country on the world stage!” the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine wrote in a press release following the Games.
StopFake previously debunked other fakes related to the 2026 Olympics in articles such as Fake: Ukrainian Athlete Vladislav Heraskevych’s Helmet Bears Terrorist Symbols and Portraits of Military Personnel and Fake: Ukrainians Robbed Euronews Film Crew at Milan Olympics.
